NFL ‘expected’ to consider adding ability to challenge penalties

The missed pass interference call in the NFC Championship Game might have ripple effects into the future regarding how NFL football is played.

The league is likely to consider a proposal to give coaches the ability to challenge “judgment calls,” like referees’ decisions to call penalties, to avoid having another moment like the one that many claim tainted the Saints-Rams game, ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported.

The proposal reportedly will include a “disincentive” to discourage teams from overusing the special type of challenge, like another penalty or some time run off the clock.

A source told Schefter the NFL competition committee “will figure out a way” to pass the rule or one of that nature.

The committee includes Saints coach Sean Payton, who is in favor of the idea of challenging penalties, as well as Cowboys owner Jerry Jones and Broncos general manager John Elway, who have said they think the idea is a slippery slope.

Saints fandom feels it was robbed of a trip to the Super Bowl when the officiating crew did not flag Rams cornerback Nickell Robey-Coleman for illegally defending receiver Tommylee Lewis late in the fourth quarter of the NFC Championship Game. Had a flag been throw, the Saints would have received a new set of downs and a guaranteed field goal attempt to win the game.